Airfields turn a small army into many detachments

The original Singapore strategy assumed that a major fleet would operate from the base, but that fleet never arrived in the planned strength. When Britain would not fund a sufficiently large army instead, air power became the substitute. Airfields built to support that concept then became additional points requiring protection across a large peninsula. Once understrength formations are accounted for, the estimate falls to only around three dozen battalion equivalents spread among those commitments. This penny-packet deployment dispersed forces already short of experience and made it harder to assemble a coherent reserve.